Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Trading Up 7.2% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) traded up 7.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $80.69 and last traded at $86.7060. 223,803 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 1,797,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $80.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on LQDA shares. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. HC Wainwright upped their target price on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.88.

Liquidia Trading Up 5.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 609.26 and a beta of 0.55.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.Liquidia’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 35,249 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $2,520,655.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,130,426 shares in the company, valued at $80,836,763.26. This represents a 3.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 7,863 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total value of $562,283.13. Following the sale, the insider owned 217,126 shares in the company, valued at $15,526,680.26. The trade was a 3.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,022,134 shares of company stock worth $129,579,224. 25.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Liquidia by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,703,000 after acquiring an additional 82,955 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 15.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,796,000 after acquiring an additional 16,022 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 7,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Liquidia by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 94,152 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 11,111 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Technologies, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company leverages its proprietary PRINT® (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) platform to engineer precisely shaped and sized drug particles, with the goal of improving delivery, efficacy and safety profiles. By controlling particle characteristics at the nanoscale, Liquidia seeks to enhance respiratory and other therapies that depend on targeted delivery.

The company’s lead product candidate, LIQ861, is a dry powder formulation of treprostinil designed for inhalation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).